Rudolf Arnold Erren (15 August 1899 – death date unknown) was a German engineer and inventor who did important work on the use of hydrogen fuels in the early 20th century. He had several patents, developed the Erren engine, and his work was "apparently the earliest reported use of hydrogen-engine supercharging of any kind." One of Germany's World War II U-boats supposedly had a hydrogen engine designed by Erren.
Erren was born in Prussia, served in both the German Army and Air Force during World War I, then became a police officer, and was "acquitted of a charge of murdering a superior officer." Erren was interned in Canada by the British during World War II"Prisoners of War, 1715-1947", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6FWY-8KT4 : 27 April 2022), Rudolf Erren, 1939-1942. and repatriated 28 October 1945.Ancestry.com. UK, World War II Alien Internees, 1939-1945 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2019. Original data: HO 396 WW2 Internees (Aliens) Index Cards 1939-1947, The National Archives, Kew, London, England. He may have applied for British naturalisation in 1946. He returned to Germany and remarried. Erren's research records were lost during WWII.
Erren's ex-wife Rosalie Mercy Burlin Erren Henderson (married 1931, divorced 1937) was one of John Haigh's murder victims."England and Wales Marriage Registration Index, 1837-2005," database, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV87-3M6G : 8 October 2014), Rudolf A Erren and null, 1931; from "England & Wales Marriages, 1837-2005," database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing 1931, quarter 4, vol. 1B, p. 705, Stockton, London, England, General Register Office, Southport, England.
The Rudolf Erren Award of the International Association of Hydrogen Energy (IAHE) is named in his honor.
See also German submarine V-80, an experimental Nazi mini-sub fueled by hydrogen peroxide
Selected publications
Erren, R.A. and Camnbell, Vf.H., "Hydrogen: A Commercial Fuel for Internal Combustion Engines and Other Purposes", J. Inst. of Fuel (London), Vox. 6, No. 29, June 1933, pp. 277–290.
References
External links Patent application: INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE USING HYDROGEN AS FUEL Sept. 1936